Bad Blood
by Stabson
Summary: Olivia didn't understand her partner's innate talents of making her feel better no matter the situation. Simply sitting and listening to Elliot made her feel like everything was okay again, and she appreciated it more than he would ever know. (Post 1x11, Bad Blood)


A/N: Oh, hey there! I haven't written a one-shot in months, and I'm currently taking a little break from Shattered, so I decided to bang out a little one for you guys :) This is pretty much just a post-ep for Season 1, Episode 11, Bad Blood. I'm pretty sure it's the first time we hear about Olivia's father being a rapist. But anyway, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

"You heard him. Ray was screwing with his brother's mind his whole life. It has nothing to do with blood. What Jesse did happened because Jesse believed it would. You know that, right?"

Elliot had been trying to tell Olivia the same thing for days now. Ever since the concept of bad blood came up in a case of a murder involving two brothers, Jesse and Ray, she'd been on age. He knew that the case had hit her especially hard; she thought bad blood ran through her veins just like Jesse. It was bullshit… she possessed one of the kindest souls he'd ever known.

_It's not about blood. _

_Then again, it's not necessarily about how you're raised, either. Just look at yourself. _

"There's something I'm going to need to do."

"Olivia, what good is it going to do you to know?" _Please, don't put yourself through this. _

"I just have to do this, El." She whispered, her eyes meeting his. It was then he realized; she wasn't going to be able to sleep until she knew.

"I'll give you a ride, then." If she was going to do this, he was going to be there with her. After all, she was his partner, and he wasn't going to let her go through this alone.

It took her longer than he'd hoped for her to answer, but finally, she nodded.

* * *

"He's not my father." Olivia said.

Elliot took a moment to look her over. There was a strange mix of emotions on her face: anger, sorrow, confusion, and somehow, relief. "You sure?"

"Positive." Olivia whispered.

Elliot nodded, and turned over the ignition before pulling back onto the street. They sat in silence for a long, awkward moment before Elliot finally spoke.

"You okay?"

Olivia took a deep breath, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Yeah."

He glanced at her knowingly. "Come on, Liv. I'm your partner, you can't bullshit me that easily."

She turned towards him. He could almost hear all the thoughts whirring in her mind. It broke his heart; he couldn't imagine what she was going through. His father had been an ass, but at least he knew where he came from. She had no idea.

After a long moment of silence, he spoke again. "Want to grab a bite? My treat."

"Don't you have to get home to your family?" She asked.

"Kathy took the kids to Jersey for the weekend to see her parents." He said. "C'mon, I'll take you wherever you want."

Finally, Olivia nodded. "I guess I can't refuse free food, right?"

Olivia ended up choosing an old Irish pub a few blocks away from her apartment. They got a quiet table in the corner, and both ordered beers. Elliot stared at her across from him, and a strange feeling rose in his chest. Recently, the feeling had been developing whenever he was with her… he wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was dangerous. He cared about her immensely.

"El?"

"Hm?"

"What was your father like?"

The question caught him off guard. After everything going on in her head right now, what would make her want to know about _his_ childhood?

"Why?"

She shrugged, fiddling with her bottle. "I just… want to hear about a family less dysfunctional than mine."

He took a sip of beer, hesitating. He really didn't want to answer her with the truth. He had his own childhood demons that he had a hard time dealing with, not to mention he was sure that hearing about what went on back then wouldn't make her feel any better about her own situation.

_You want her to tell you the truth. The least you can do is repay the favor._

"Sorry, Liv." Elliot said, taking a sip of his beer. "If you're looking for the perfect picture of family, you're not gonna get it with me."

"What do you mean?"

His gaze dropped to the tabletop. It was his turn to fiddle with his bottle. "My father… let's just say we didn't see eye-to-eye about a lot of things."

"He was still there for you, though, wasn't he?"

Elliot scoffed. "If you call beating me with a belt on a daily basis 'being there for me', yeah, you're right. He definitely was."

_Good job, asshole, you did exactly what you were trying NOT to do. _

Sighing, he said. "Look, that's not even the point."

"Jesus, Elliot." She whispered. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged, avoiding her gaze as he ran his hand through his hair. Familiar anger and pain rose in his chest. He hated thinking about this; he hated dragging himself back to those times. There was a reason he never talked about it. "It didn't come up until now."

Pity and anger were clearly written on her face when he finally looked up at her. Dammit, he was the one that was supposed to be comforting her, not the other way around. Damn him. He took a deep breath, shook his head, and forced the memories back down.

"But listen, I'm here for you."

They paused as the waiter brought over their meals. When he disappeared around the corner, he spoke again.

"I want you to talk to me. Please, talk to me."

She sighed, wiping her eyes. "At least you know where you come from. I have no idea what kind of problems that man had."

"Olivia." In a rare moment of weakness, Elliot reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "Look at me."

Her eyes slowly raised to his.

Just her eyes on him made a smile twitch across his lips. "You are an amazing person, and an amazing detective. Whoever your father was, whatever he did, that doesn't matter, because look how great you turned out."

He could see the water in her eye, so he wasn't surprised when she turned away. When she answered him, her voice was soft and filled with emotion. "Thank you, El. You don't know how much that means to me."

"I do know." He whispered back. "Hey."

She looked back up at him.

"You and me, Liv, we're in this together." He squeezed her hand tighter. "It doesn't matter where we come from; what _does_ matter is what we do. And, I'm not trying to pat myself on the back here, but both you and me do pretty good work, right?"

She chuckled softly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

* * *

Olivia didn't understand her partner's innate talents of making her feel better no matter the situation. After seeing that man, realizing he wasn't her father, and then thinking about how her father was still out there somewhere, she was feeling a whirlwind of emotions. She wasn't sure how to deal with all of them, whether to be angry, sad or even confused, but simply sitting and listening to Elliot made her feel like everything was okay again. He knew she was a good person. He kept saying that blood didn't matter. And considering where he came from, the school of thinking was something she was sure he was well-versed in.

They hadn't been partners for long, but over the time, she'd learned quite a bit about him. He was a Marine, a veteran of SVU (he's surpassed the two-year burnout mark quite a long while ago), a father of four and a fiercely loyal and courageous man. She was lucky to have him as a partner. What she wasn't expecting, though, was the admission about his childhood. As it turned out, both of their fathers had their flaws. Joseph Stabler (Elliot told her his name in the car) was definitely not a rapist or a criminal, but the beatings he gave his son were enough to haunt him to this day. That was evident enough by the look in Elliot's eyes when he talked about the man.

Olivia returned to the living room from the kitchen, and handed Elliot one of the beers she'd retrieved before plopping down next to him. "So, we talked about my problems. Are you going to tell me about yours?"

Elliot shrugged, and took a long swig of his drink. "There's not much to tell. They're not really problems anymore, Joe's dead."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean what happened is erased."

Elliot took a deep breath as he turned towards her. "Listen, Liv. What happened… it was a long time ago. Joe Stabler had some serious anger management problems, he drank, and made the decision to take things out on his son." He took another sip of his drink. "There's nothing I can do about it now. It's better just left alone."

What he was saying with his words and what he was saying with his eyes were completely different. She saw both anger and sorrow in his eyes, just like she was sure he saw in hers earlier. Anger rose in her chest. She knew him, and if the beatings still haunted him to this day, she knew that they had to be serious enough. Who would think about hurting a child, especially him?

From his attitude and demeanor, she never would have guessed he'd been physically and emotionally abused for most of his childhood. She'd seen him with his own children; he showed them nothing but complete adoration and devotion. Then again, all's he preached was how blood didn't control actions, people did. It was becoming more and more clear to her that he may be right.

"Like my father is better just left alone?" Olivia asked.

He shrugged. "I just want to let you know that I'm here for you. And yeah, I wonder what good it is for you to know. That's not going to change anything that happened. Maybe it's just better off left in the past."

"Maybe." She murmured, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't know, El. Thanks for coming with me today, though. It… really helped, you being there."

He smiled, and nodded. "Of course. I'll always be here if you need me."

When she looked into his eyes, she had no doubt that he intended to keep that promise. It comforted her more than he would ever understand.

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for reading, and please let me know what you think! I'm going to try to write a few more of these, so if you have any requests for one-shots, leave a review below and shoot me a PM :)


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